Any opinions on retubeing W/winged c or mullard re

Do a search in the Tube Forum in Audio Asylum - you will find a lot of comments about the Mullard re-issues, the SED's, and some comparisions of the two.

I have now had 2 sets of the Mullards go bad. I find the Winged are much better sounding and last.

I also have had poor luck with the Mullard reissues. One of four went bad and then another one of four- all this with less than 100 hrs. I'm using EI fat bottle and they have not had a failure- knock on wood. They sound pretty good too.

Recently purchased an octet of Winged"C" 6550s(the latest iteration)to replace the Phillips ECGs in my modded Cary SLM-100s. Got them from Upscale Audio after much agonizing over departing from NOS tubes. Much ado about nothing!! They are performing beautifully!

I am using Cryo'd El34 SED quads and couldn't be happier! Don't feel a need to try others. Using SED quads for 6 years never had a problem.......

I have read and heard many non-flattering things about the Mullard reissues. I had a pair of Electro Harmonix EL34's and another pair of 6CA7's. They were both OK, but not ideal. I pondered the SED's, but wound up buying a quad set of JJ/Tesla E34L's (they are quite inxpensive and supposedly had a more extended top end than the SED's, which I have heard roll off a bit).

Bottom line; I'm quite happy with them. Now if your system tends to be bright, then maybe the SED's will work better for you in helping to tame that (I haven't heard them though). I think the SED winged C's and the JJ/Tesla's are probably the best in production EL34's out there right now, by popular consensus.

Enjoy,
Bob

Bob, I tend to agree with your comments regarding the sonic's of the SED's and the Tesla's, both the JJ's and the pre-JJ's. The E34L also has a bit more energy and requires a bit more bias. I find the E34L's to be very sparkly (maybe a bit more than the Tesla EL34's). The SED's are IMHO more linear, certainly not bright/sparkly.

But the one thing that I have found undesirable in actual use of the JJ's or earlier Teslas - the tubes are not as reliable as the SED's. I've had several major failures with the Tesla's and I've had none with the SED's. I've been using them both for over 10 years.

Its probably only important for those with amps that don't deal well with shorted power tubes (which can take out resistors etc when they fail).

FWIW.

I also had bad luck with a quartet of new style Mullard EL34s. After about 100 hours, one of them shorted out and so I'm now left with three when I need a matched quartet. Never again. I went with winged Cs and have been happy ever since.

Looks like winged c wins in a landslide!